From the left: Sixpoint’s Resin, Brunswick Mumme, The Brothers Quinn, and the Hi-Res
Last Thursday despite the cold I wandered over to the local brew haunt The Sampler in pursuit of a special treat: the launch of Sixpoint’s formidable new triple IPA, the Hi-Res. What I got was a quadruple hit with not one, but four innovative Sixpoint brews on tap. They proved to me again why Sixpoint is such a quality Brooklyn institution; they are not afraid to try new and sometimes crazy things in the name of great beer! In fact this is known as the “Sixpoint mentality” to insiders like Jamie Leithead, the sales rep on hand at Thursday’s event.
The masterminds behind The Sampler: owner, Enrique Arias (left), and front-of-house, Rafael Martinez.
The Hi-Res is an amped up version of Sixpoint’s classic double IPA, the Resin. In case you haven’t put two and two together, the name’s a play on the fact that cannabis and hops are in the same the family, Cannabinaceae, which in science means they’re related and perhaps even share a common ancestor. It’s surprising sweet and drinkable for a triple IPA consider that it has an 11% ABV (that’s the alcohol content people and it’s so high it’s close to some wines). In the glass it’s a rather bright light orange with a faint white head. The hop aroma doesn’t hit you in the face but is more subtle with hints of pine and fruit. The beer is quite syrupy (largely from the distillation of the oils found in the hop flower, sound familiar?), with a lot of sweetness from the fruity hop flavors like tangerine and mango, and a slight taste of caramel from the malt. The fruity lingers on the finish, the beer going down smooth, which considering the high alcohol content means that this beer could quite easily lay you out!
Erin Wicks enjoying her Sixpoint brews.
Though the Hi-Res was our our primary target, my photographer Matt Chapman and I decided to share a pint to be sure we gave all the Sixpoint brews their due diligence. Next up was The Brothers Quinn Rauchbier – a German style beer traditionally made by drying malted barley over open flames creating a “smoked beer” – brewed through a collaboration with a couple lucky homebrewers. The Brothers Quinn takes it’s smoky history quite seriously. I can’t describe it better than Jamie did when she said she tells people “it’s like drinking bacon, but not disgusting.” And truly, the smokiness dominated the aroma and taste to the point it was hard to taste the subtler dimensions of the beer. Matt found this to be a bit off-putting, but I’m a fan of anything that smells like a backyard smoker and leaves my mouth with the essence of smoked salmon, especially during the extended vortex.
